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Thursday, May 17, 2012

How to stay relevant & Johnny Depp (yeah, I said JD) GIVEAWAY

How to Stay Relevant & Johnny Depp GIVEAWAY

How to stay relevant in 2012. Writing books for young adults is hard to do when you aren't a young adult. Look at Johnny Depp, he is 49 this year and teenagers still love him (as well as those of us that have loved him since 1989). He is beyond awesome and hot, he is cool. He not only dresses young, he takes the kind of parts that appeal to women of every age and he stays mysterious. He only takes roles that appeal to his inner artist and passes on things that he doesn't feel are right for his career. He doesn't do interviews often, and he keeps his private life...private. He didn't start that way, he had to get out there and sell himself. He was an easy sell (obviously). We should all tap into our inner artist and bring forth our teenager and our teenage idol.

As a writer, mysterious is cool for people like Stephen King and JK Rowling, but chances are you aren't as well known...yet. I'm closer in age to Johnny Depp (in the same decade) than I am with Taylor Swift, giving me a disadvantage. I have to remember that teens want to absorb everything they can about a character, the writer behind the character, and the story line. Novellas are a great way to get a quick story out about a character that readers are wanting to know more about. It will keep your book alive while you write the next novel in the series. Check out what people like Kelley Armstrong or Julie Kagawa are doing on their websites. They are great at keeping their audience up to date and they are amazing writers. You don't have to do every interview that is requested of you, and you don't have to tell the world your business.

If you don't have a handle on the whole 'social networking' ask someone to do it for you. I'm sure you have a family member that adores the fact that you're a writer and they would be honored to help you. Don't be afraid to ask. My son has 14,000 followers on Twitter... I ask him to retweet my tweets all of the time. It takes him about thirty seconds to complete the request and I have touched more potential readers.

Until the day I'm able to be mysterious - I'll continue to be eccentric. Now for the giveaway -